


Sharp Claws of Fury

by Gaysuke_Takahashi, Kiyana



Series: Of Street Races and Spider Legs [10]
Category: Initial D
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:52:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21516337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaysuke_Takahashi/pseuds/Gaysuke_Takahashi, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiyana/pseuds/Kiyana
Summary: Who knew that getting attacked by a damn cat would lead to all of this? Not Kyouichi, that's for damn sure. How in the hell is he supposed to be prepared for any of this!? At least he gets a damn tail out of it all!Set during and after OSRASL Volume 5.
Series: Of Street Races and Spider Legs [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1371529
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Sharp Claws of Fury

Kyouichi stood at one of the cliffs at Iroha slopes, a cigarette between his lips as he thought about all the excited whispers circling about Project D, vaguely annoyed. Ryousuke can be a pain in the ass sometimes, yet everything works out for him every time, it seems. It's irritating. He tossed the cigarette on the ground, stomped it flat, and made his way towards his car. When he opened the car door, a sudden figure ran from underneath him and shocked Kyouichi to the point of stumbling slightly, his foot landing on something that didn’t feel at all like the ground. The following noise released was ungodly, but led him to believe that he'd stepped on a cat’s tail. 

"Shit!" he cursed. "Go away! Shoo!"

Could cats understand humans? Because that particular cat looked like it was fuming after having their tail almost crushed, and then told to get lost. Just as Kyouichi turned to get inside his car again, the cat released a growl and attacked, lunging at his right arm.

"Motherfucker!" and the cat was gone, leaving Kyouichi to clutch his arm. After the shock of it wore off, he looked at his arm, wincing as it throbbed painfully. He had been bitten and scratched, although he was more pissed off that he hadn’t been wearing his leather jacket, cursing the hot summer weather. If it weren’t so hot, he wouldn’t have been so open to attack from a damn feral cat. He let out a growl as blood began sluggishly running down his arm and turned to walk towards the passenger side of his Evo III, he needed his damn med-kit.

~0~

Everyone turned their attention to the Evo III coming down the pass. It’s aura was… off. They couldn’t tell what it was, exactly, but something was wrong. Everyone’s eyes widened in worry when Kyouichi stepped from his vehicle and they saw his right arm bandaged up. Seiji was the first one up and running towards him. Kyouichi shot him an inquisitive glare, but noticing Seiji’s glances at his arm told him that he’s curious about what had happened to him, and probably concerned, not to mention.

“Unfortunate encounter with a feral cat. Took care to disinfect the wound. No need to worry about it.”

“And why did you need to bandage it up?” Seiji gained enough confidence to ask.

“Bastard bit and clawed me deep enough for it to bleed more than expected. I don’t want to talk about this.” his eyes gleamed.

_ ‘More than expected? What is he on about this time?’ _ Seiji thought, but Kyouichi’s ticked off expression made him keep that question to himself. The others kept on looking worried, but knowing what he’s capable of doing when pissed off, made them keep their mouths shut.

“What are y’all waiting around for? Come on! We can’t be standing around doing nothing while Project D goes around and whoops everyone’s asses in Kanagawa!” Kyouichi yelled, startling everyone into motion.  _ ‘Can't this get any worse?’ _ he thought to himself, holding his hand, hoping that the pain dissipates soon.

~0~

It’s been a couple of days since the attack, and the pain hasn’t alleviated at all. In fact, he was in more pain than when he was first attacked, and now his arm was almost endlessly itchy. He’d learned to ignore it pretty quickly, but sometimes the itching would become too much and he’d rub at his arm when he was distracted. He hasn’t been racing as he doesn’t want to put up with his team’s worry, though he has met Seiji a couple of times. He has also occasionally called Ryousuke to see how his little project is going. Ryousuke has picked up the sound of him scratching his arm pretty easily, not that he’s very surprised. Of course, he had to ask why he was scratching so intently, and, after the small cat attack comment, asked what exactly had happened as well, nosy bastard.

He sat in his chair at his home, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He’s trying to figure out what to do, but a visit to the doctor is out of the question. If he did get cat scratch fever, then it wouldn't be a big issue. But if it was something worse… he let out a tired sigh, rubbing at his arm idly. Ryousuke is preparing for the final Project D race and here he is, sick because of a feral cat. He was getting tired and slowly nodded off on his chair while holding his arm.

~0~

Seiji saw Kyouichi's Evo III and made a run for it, he's excited to go and see the final Project D race. "Hey, Kyouichi! What do you think of…" his voice trailed off when he saw the condition his friend was in. “Are you okay? You look like death’s starting to warm over!”

"Yes, I'm alright! Just haven't had the best sleep this past week." he said with an obvious sound of tiredness in his voice. He was being haunted by odd and cryptic nightmares, visions of the full moon and stars, of tall trees, hopping and swerving between them. He didn’t like them very much. "What were you about to ask, Seiji?"

"Uhh, I was about to ask if you'd come to see the final Project D race, but seeing the condition you're in… I don't think you could take it…"

"What the fuck are you on about, Seiji!?" Kyouichi exploded out of the blue. "Just because I haven't had the best sleep, you think that I can't make it? That I'll pass out in the middle of it?" 

It made Seiji visibly recoil. "Seeing as you can still yell at me, I guess you have enough energy to see it after all." he corrected himself fairly quickly, this was probably the angriest he’s ever seen Kyouichi, and honestly it was absolutely terrifying.

"We'll go with my Evo III, yours just looks dumb." he was suddenly a lot more calmer, Sejii was surprised he didn’t get whiplash from how quickly his friend’s mood had changed.

"Oh, okay then." Seiji said mutedly, hoping not to cause another outburst. Watching the race with him will be rough, but it is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so that'll make it worth it in the end.

~0~

Last night's race was still on Kyouichi's mind. Akina's 86 ran a miraculous race with a spectacular end. Despite the engine blowing, Fujiwara still seemed happy. Which is a far cry compared to his first race against that Jorōgumo. The punk said that he did learn something from the race they held on Akagi, though he was too tired to come up with a jab of his own. That 86’s final race won't disappear from his memory anytime soon. It was worth it to go and see it despite his health condition. He wouldn’t have forgiven himself if he missed out on that. His exhaustion from lack of sleep had caught up with him, so he had to let Seiji drive them home in his Evo III. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t feel fully rested when he woke up in his bed, and was only agitated when he saw he had a missed call from Ryousuke, and texts saying that while he was happy he came out to see the final race, he shouldn’t have if he was feeling horrible, because  _ of course _ he noticed that he was there, looking ill. He just laid on his bed watching the clock idly tick. He had slept till noon. Lovely. Why couldn’t this be over by now? He wants to go back to racing on Iroha slopes, but nope, some cat had to be there to ruin his life that fateful night. He let out an upset sigh and decided to get up, sick or not he still had to eat.

Stepping into the kitchen, he saw a premade meal bought from a store settled on the table along with a note. Looks like Seiji felt terrible because of Kyouichi’s state, so last night he had bought him some sushi, when Kyouichi was sleeping soundly in the car. Despite how much shit he tends to give Seiji, and how much of a prick he was to others, he still cared about his friends. Moving the note to the side, he inspected the package. Despite it being room temperature, it did seem appetizing, which was unusual. Better dig in! Kyouichi will probably treat Seiji later when he feels better. It was the least he could do.

The clock quietly ticked away as the sun slowly set. Kyouichi had ignored all the calls and messages he had received throughout the day. Something in him was both excited for the night, but also very anxious, almost as if he was awaiting a race he had been thinking about for a week. He couldn’t figure out what exactly was going on. Since it was getting dark outside, he thought that he could go for a small walk next to the woods. No one would see him anyway, most people out here preferred to stay indoors around this time, or head to Iroha to either watch his team practice, or practice themselves.

Outside, the closer he got to said woods, the faster his steps became, until he was running towards his destination, the moon illuminating his path. His initial plan of walking next to the wooded area was abandoned as he ran straight into the forest, as if someone or something called him there. He reached a spot where there was a nice plain area surrounded by trees and a stream flowing nearby. He’d never known this was here, but then again, he didn’t make a conscious effort to go adventuring through the trees. After hesitating, he stepped into the open space, slowly walking through and making sure there was nothing that would further aggravate his condition, just why the hell had he come out here? What happened to having just a nice walk? Well, it was too late to complain now, this place looked nice and calm, oddly, he felt at ease here. As he continued through, movement in the grass caused him to look that way, watching as a few startled rabbits scattered away from him. An odd feeling bubbled up in him, reminding him of the urge to chase after and catch his opponents during a race, why would he feel that looking at rabbits? When he started observing his surroundings again, it seemed familiar, like he’s seen this place in his recurring nightmares. Then, it clicked, slowly of course, but nonetheless it did, he slowly looked up towards the moon. He  _ has _ seen this place in his nightmares. But why? For what-

That anxious feeling that had been building all day suddenly built up rapidly within him, hitting the apex, cutting off his train of thought. Just as quickly as it built, everything was brought to a halt as he doubled over from pain, sudden and from seemingly nowhere. He fell on his side while curling up. His breathing was rapid along with his heart rate, he felt like his entire body was lit on fire. He didn’t have the resources to wonder what was going on, it was too overwhelming to him, after having been ill for more than a week. He tried to muffle his screams of agony, to no avail, and that’s when it began. His bones changing length, shortening or elongating on their own will, his skin stretching and folding on their own accord. The claws forming on his fingertips were digging into his hands, his muscles cramping as they tried to fit over his new bone structure. Any and all animals who had been nearby before this began had either fled by now, or had frozen in fear as he continued to yell. His joints were still snapping and audibly clicking. He could feel himself heat up much more as a thick coat of fur covered his body. In a quick splash of gore, a bony appendage broke free from his tailbone, quickly covered by new flesh and fur that was sprouting at a rapid pace. His head felt like a mess, it was becoming hard to process anything but how much it hurt as his skull became more predatory in shape. His canines sharpened and elongated, ears becoming more triangular and a snout taking shape. The forest seemed to get lighter in a blink of an eye. 

And suddenly, it was over, and as he lay panting on the ground, a soft, warm feeling came over him. A deep, but gentle rumble filled his ears as everything around him slowly faded to black. Maybe… maybe it was time for him just close his eyes for a minute. Just a minute.

~0~

The first thing he registered when he opened his eyes back up was that it was very bright out, for it being late at night. The next thing he processed was that there were birds chirping, and suddenly he sat up, wild eyed and wincing at the pain. A large multitude of animals startled and scattered away from him as he looked around. It wasn’t night at all, it was already day! What happened last night? His head was all fogged up. Taking a moment to steady himself, he put a hand to his head, slowly realizing that he’s feeling better than he has since that cat attack. 

And then it all came back to him, as if a dam had been broken and the water it had been holding back was rushing at him. He looked down at himself, noticing that the bandages on his arm were gone, and the bites and scratches looked much better than the night before, as if they’d almost completely healed. They were no longer itchy too, thank the gods. His eyes drifted towards his nails, they were much sharper than he remembered them being, and as he shifted his jaw he realized that his mouth felt odd as well. Running his tongue over his teeth, he noted they were also sharper than they used to be. A cold feeling settled in his chest, and after a moment of stillness, he stood, wincing at how his muscles ached. He needs to get home and figure this out, now.

The trip home took less time than he expected, he was a little surprised when he could recall how he’d found his way to the clearing, but not really questioning it. Another thing to be thankful for was that he didn’t see anyone out and about as he walked, allowing him to get inside and lock the door without interruption. Ignoring everything around him, he walked into his bathroom and turned on the light, his eyes locking on his appearance in the mirror. At first glance, he looked much, much healthier than he’d been looking the past week, his complexion no longer that of a corpse, as it had been prior. Further investigation into his appearance showed him differences, things about himself that he knew for a fact weren't there yesterday. For one, his eyes were much more… cattish, he should say, with his pupils being more slit than circular. Hooking a finger, and claw, around his left cheek, he pulled it aside gently to see particularly sharp teeth, the canines longer than usual. What the fuck did that cat do to him? Who could he ask for help? With a groan, he exited his bathroom and entered his bedroom, catching sight of his phone. Flipping it open, he rose a brow at the numerous missed calls, but paused at the first message he saw. It was from Ryousuke, saying that Seiji had called  _ him _ of all people, worried that he’d been completely unresponsive the day before, and that he’d be stopping by to check on him the next morning.

And it was now the next morning.  _ ‘Oh shit.’  _ was all he could think at that moment. Blankly, he turned towards the living room and slowly ambled into it, sitting in the chair as his mind tried to process just what all of this could mean, not noticing as his phone lit up again, another message from Ryousuke saying he was on his way. Honestly, having Ryousuke with him felt safer than Seiji, but right now he doesn’t know if they’ll both be coming here or just Ryousuke. And suddenly, something clicked in his head. Yesterday night was a full moon. He just so happened to have blacked out during it, and woke up with more cat-like features. And now Ryousuke, who he  _ knew _ had at least one creature on his team, and likely knew of it, was on his way here.

Help was coming to him, it would seem, even if he felt awkward about it being _Ryousuke_ of all people. He fell back against his seat. At least Ryousuke could keep himself calm about it all, while Seiji was unpredictable at best. That thought made him start vaguely panicking, if _Seiji_ came along for the ride, it would just end in chaos. He could feel how his tail wanted to break free and move all around from agitation and suddenly processed then that _he has a fucking tail_. He then tried to figure out how to “summon” his tail, absorbing his attention for a good two hours before the sound of someone knocking on the door caused him to jump and swear as he kicked the table on accident.

“Kyouichi?” Ryousuke’s voice was sounding very concerned. “You okay in there.”

“Just come in!” Kyouichi snapped, collapsing back in his chair and placing a hand over his eyes. The sound of the door opening then softly closing filled the room, before soft steps echoed his way. He slowly opened his eyes to see Ryousuke worried about him, not as visibly as Seiji would, but still there. He also looked around from under his hand, trying to see if Seiji was there, but no, it was just Ryousuke. Good.

“Well, you’re looking much better than I expected.” Ryousuke’s voice was still grating, even after not hearing it except over the phone. There was a small thump, Kyouichi guessed he sat down a bag on the table or something. “When Seiji called, sounding panicked because you weren’t responding to his, likely numerous, calls,” Kyouichi interrupted him with a snort,  _ numerous _ was putting it lightly. "He asked me to come check in."

“What did he want from me?” he groaned

“Honestly?” there was a shifting sound, Kyouichi glanced at him to catch the tail end of a shrug, how undignified for Ryousuke Takahashi. “I have absolutely no clue. Maybe to check in? All I know is that you weren’t responding and he wanted  _ me _ to come check on you because you’ve been, in his words, ‘goddamn terrifying’ these past few weeks.” 

Kyouichi couldn’t help but to laugh at that. “He’s still as brutally honest as always. Fujiwara has actually seen me slap Seiji, when he lost his race against him.”

“I heard about that.” he could practically  _ hear _ the smile in Ryousuke’s voice. “Keisuke said the resounding echo was so loud that it caused some people all the way across the lot to flinch.”

“It wasn’t  _ that _ loud.” he immediately began to deny, and Ryousuke chuckled at his tone.

“Well, you do seem to be doing much better than I expected, which is good. How are you feeling right now?”

“Like I got ran over by your FC.” he removed his hand from his eyes and looked at Ryousuke point blank, causing the brunet to freeze. “Twice.” there was silence.

“Ah.” was Ryousuke’s only response. “I see.”

“You see… what, exactly?”

“That I am not properly equipped to handle this situation.” Ryousuke’s response was vaguely alarming. “I am not the right person in the  _ slightest _ for this.”

“What?” he watched as Ryousuke got out his phone and began flipping through it slowly, his own eyes coming up to lock with Kyouichi’s own, and changing color, his pupils narrowing into slits.  _ Oh _ .

“I’m not the right creature for this, but I know someone who is.”

“Okay, but first, what the fuck are you?” Ryousuke chuckled at the question and put his phone down.

“I expected the swear.” he said, causing a small growl to build in Kyouichi’s chest. Said growl quickly died, however, when a pair of ears, a lion’s tail, and a pair of great big wings suddenly warped into existence on him.  **“I’m a Sphinx, Kyouichi.”**

“Oh my…” he said softly.

**“But I do have a mate already, so your attempts to flirt with me are in vain. Just a heads up, knowing that you used to be obsessed with me.”** a smug smirk was on Ryousuke’s face.

“I wasn’t planning to date you!” Kyouichi, this time did growl. “And I  _ was not _ obsessed with you!”

**“Says the guy who constantly thought about beating me in a race.”**

“Oh, shut up!” Ryousuke’s laughter was uproarious.

**“Besides, I’ve contacted the guy who can help you with your** **_situation._ ** **”** Ryousuke closed his phone and sat it down once more.  **“Likely, once he hears about it in full, he’ll want to meet you himself.”**

“Who did you talk to? Who’s coming?”

**“I gave him your number, he’ll call you himself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with a cute vampire boy that I have got to get to.”** and with that, Ryousuke was shifted back to a more human form and was out the door with his things in one swift movement, leaving Kyouichi behind to process just exactly what had happened. Remembering Ryousuke’s tail, he quickly went back to what he was doing before Ryousuke appeared.

He’d better get that tail to appear soon, or he was going to snap.

**Author's Note:**

> REVENGE FOR WHAT HAPPENED IN SECOND STAGE! Also, Kyouichi is a Maine Coon! (Kiyana)
> 
> When writing the bit where Kyouichi showed up in 5th stage, I randomly said, what if he was a werecat, and uh, we ran with it. Also yes, it was fun to bully him throughout this fic. (Gaysuke_Takahashi)


End file.
